85 replies to this topic

[TexNewMex]

First Great report and trip!!!

Simply amazing and fine pictures to boot.

I know others have asked but what places did you like best for each of the 3 types of meats...
1. Brisket
2. Ribs
3. Susage

1. Brisket
Kruez was good, City Market very good as well


I liked the smoke flavor, the crust and the clear meat



Pure Flavor.

2.Ribs

Smitty's and Saltlick were Great!


The Ribs were tender nice pink color...flavor, flavor, flavor


Cooked on sauce was the ringer here....

3.Sausage

City Market.....

I loved the hand made sausage rings...like I eluded to earlier....I had never tasted anything like it....awesome!

Also, I can't be held responsible for saying one is my favorite and down the road something else is my favorite.....at some point it starts to run together...next year I am taking a minidisc so I can make a good voice recording...sort of like a medical examiner.....

"slight smoke ring on the anterior end of rib some bruising"

Did I say next year?

[Kent D]

I feel like I just gained 5 pounds reading this thread, and now that it's over, I must wipe a stray tear from my eye, because they haven't invented Smell-0-Internet yet. You have truly contributed to the collective food community with this in-depth investigation. And the dog is cute, too.
No way I would have the fortitude to bring all that meat back unmolested - yes, I know you nibbled, but I would have been strapped to a gurney and wheeled right into Carnivore Recovery Services within the first 24 hours...
Thanks for sharing the pics and words.

[TexNewMex]

We have NOTHING like this in British Columbia.  I am utterly and completely jealous ... and am looking into air fares as we speak.

A.

To make it easier when you get here..........You can have this.

[TexNewMex]

I never knew sausage was a big part of barbecue tradition. Is this true only in Texas? Or do other regions also feature sausage?

I am not sure.....it has something to do with germans and immigrants, I wish I knew the whole story, but I know someone who could probably tell you......

Jaymes is the one with the BBQ history knowledge.

[Kevin72]

And now, the unfortunate hangover from your road trip: finding cue anywhere near as good in DFW.

[BarbaraY]

I may have to go to town today thanks to you.
At last we have a BBQ place here, calls itself Texas BBQ. It has excellent ribs, I haven't tried the sausage yet, no brisket but tri-tip instead. Tri tip was tender and tasty with a nice smoke ring but a bit on the dry side.
Guess I was trying to say that even here in CA we have sausage.

[BBQ Brian]

Best thread I've read - wonderful job and thanks for the road report!!

[MarketStEl]

Before I really chime in--I just took in the entire thread after avoiding it for some weird reason, and now that I've taken it in, I have to say:

This ranks as The Single Best Delurk in eGullet History.

Fabulous trip, great narrative, and I wish I had been along for the ride only because I can't taste any of what you had from this distance.

And before you go, will you answer us your own question...

BBQ - "Is it really that great?"

You know what?.....It really is Great!.......Honestly, I had my doubts....I use to ask myself what the hubbub was all about and now that I have seen it, smelled it, tasted it and experienced the smoke the heat and met the people who create it.......I can say that they make something very special down there.....it may sound cheesy, but its true.

I think its like that all over the US........I bet on the coast in Maine it’s the same with, maybe......... Lobster Rolls .......I bet there are tons of places to have one and each place is unique in its own way, the cuisine is probably steeped in as much tradition as Texas BBQ.

and I am sure the south.....Memphis, KC, Atlanta, NC have something to say about the subject also.

You had asked back at the start of this thread:

Are there any other regions like this in the U.S. with such a concentration of well-known or famous bbq joints?

Regions? Probably not. And I doubt you will find anywhere else in the country with as much good BBQ per capita as the towns you visited.

But a trip to Kansas City--it's only 600 miles up I-35--will reward you with a slew of excellent places, including lots of well-known ones (Arthur Bryant's, Gates', Rosedale, Fiorella's Jack Stack) and others that have made a name for themselves lately (Oklahoma Joe's), all in a single metropolitan area. KC being a rather sprawling metropolis, you may end up doing as much driving there as you did on this trip, but you won't be covering as much territory. As big cities go, none rival Kansas City for outstanding 'cue, and I don't care what they think in Memphis.

And speaking of unique local cuisine:

Do they really call them hoagies out your way?

--Sandy "Hog Island Shipyard no longer exists--it's now Philadelphia International Airport--but the sandwich it made famous lives on" Smith

Edited to add: Speaking of great writing and vivid imagery, I've got to commit to memory your phrase "napalm summer breeze". We've had more than a few of these up here in the humid Delaware Valley^W^WGreater Philadelphia region this summer.

Edited by MarketStEl, 11 August 2006 - 10:52 AM.

[Jaymes]

I never knew sausage was a big part of barbecue tradition. Is this true only in Texas? Or do other regions also feature sausage?

I am not sure.....it has something to do with germans and immigrants, I wish I knew the whole story, but I know someone who could probably tell you......

Jaymes is the one with the BBQ history knowledge.

Unfortunately, I'm not as schooled on BBQ history elsewhere, other than Texas, so don't know about the sausage thing.

I do think that the popularity of "hot links" (which, TexNewMex, is what you have to call that kind of sausage if you're gonna be a Texas boy, as that distinguishes it from the patties, etc., you get at breakfast) in Central Texas is, as you say, due in large measure to the Germans and Czechs that settled the area.

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage, so I suspect it's fairly universal.

Interesting question.

And sorry to say that I don't know the answer.

[MarketStEl]

I never knew sausage was a big part of barbecue tradition. Is this true only in Texas? Or do other regions also feature sausage?

I am not sure.....it has something to do with germans and immigrants, I wish I knew the whole story, but I know someone who could probably tell you......

Jaymes is the one with the BBQ history knowledge.

Unfortunately, I'm not as schooled on BBQ history elsewhere, other than Texas, so don't know about the sausage thing.

I do think that the popularity of "hot links" (which, TexNewMex, is what you have to call that kind of sausage if you're gonna be a Texas boy, as that distinguishes it from the patties, etc., you get at breakfast) in Central Texas is, as you say, due in large measure to the Germans and Czechs that settled the area.

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage, so I suspect it's fairly universal.

Interesting question.

And sorry to say that I don't know the answer.

Actually, it's not universal.

I've yet to run across a barbecue joint either here or in Kansas City that barbecues sausage.

Philly I wouldn't put too much stock in--such 'cue traditions as exist around here are all imports--but the absence of sausage from KC 'cue is significant.

Ribs, yes. Brisket, yes. Chicken, yes. Burnt ends? A Kansas City specialty and just about unique to the place. Sausage? Nope.

I suspect that this is the unique contribution of the Germans to Texas barbecue.

[mrbigjas]

the wonder of the central texas hot links is in part that i've never seen sausages like that anywhere else. they're loosely packed, stand up to hours of smoking and are just generally damn good. good enough that i've actually considered paying the shipping to have them sent up here to philadelphia. i haven't pulled the trigger on that deal yet, but maybe soon...

[Andrew Fenton]

the wonder of the central texas hot links is in part that i've never seen sausages like that anywhere else.  they're loosely packed, stand up to hours of smoking and are just generally damn good.  good enough that i've actually considered paying the shipping to have them sent up here to philadelphia.  i haven't pulled the trigger on that deal yet, but maybe soon...

You could probably learn how to make them. I don't think the sausages themselves would be too hard to make. Getting the smoking down is an art, of course, and you'd have to buy a smoker. But you'd quickly become the most popular kid in school...

[TexNewMex]

And speaking of unique local cuisine:

Do they really call them hoagies out your way?

--Sandy "Hog Island Shipyard no longer exists--it's now Philadelphia International Airport--but the sandwich it made famous lives on" Smith

No, I don’t think most do. I think that was all me.......I would really classify it as a Roadwich.

I think the reason I said hoagie, was because that’s what my grandma called that type of bread.... oblong split top with sesame seeds......I had never really thought about what defines a hoagie.

When we were visiting her house and happened to get hungry all of us kids would run into the sewing room and she would be in there doing some grandmaly type task .........she would of course act putout and busy and just say....

"why don’t you throw some ham on a hoagie roll"

That was the only bread in the pantry, besides the generic black and white labeled bread from piggly wiggly.

[TexNewMex]

the wonder of the central texas hot links is in part that i've never seen sausages like that anywhere else.  they're loosely packed, stand up to hours of smoking and are just generally damn good.  good enough that i've actually considered paying the shipping to have them sent up here to philadelphia.  i haven't pulled the trigger on that deal yet, but maybe soon...

I am close to doing the same thing.....I keep thinking about them and I would really like to taste them again...luckily I have a wedding reception to go to in Austin at the end of October....so there is sausage in my future.....I just hope I can wait it out.

Check out Mueller's site.....Sausage..........go to photos and then to Process and there are some great photos of Bobby Mueller making sausage.

[mrbigjas]

the wonder of the central texas hot links is in part that i've never seen sausages like that anywhere else.  they're loosely packed, stand up to hours of smoking and are just generally damn good.  good enough that i've actually considered paying the shipping to have them sent up here to philadelphia.  i haven't pulled the trigger on that deal yet, but maybe soon...

You could probably learn how to make them. I don't think the sausages themselves would be too hard to make. Getting the smoking down is an art, of course, and you'd have to buy a smoker. But you'd quickly become the most popular kid in school...

you'd think, but apparently everyone's hot links recipe is a secrety secret. salon did an article about it a while ago--here's a link.

[Kevin72]

Actually, it's not universal.

I've yet to run across a barbecue joint either here or in Kansas City that barbecues sausage.

Ribs, yes. Brisket, yes. Chicken, yes. Burnt ends? A Kansas City specialty and just about unique to the place.  Sausage? Nope.

I suspect that this is the unique contribution of the Germans to Texas barbecue.

Yeah, when I lived in Georgia and ate barbecue there, there was no sausage to be found anywhere. I was even asking locals about it and they looked at me funny.

[Andrew Fenton]

you'd think, but apparently everyone's hot links recipe is a secrety secret.  salon did an article about it a while ago--here's a link.

Interesting. Barbecue chefs and nuclear scientists seem to vie with each other in pursuit of secrecy, don't they? Still, sausage is one of those things that is so easy to make, and rewards experimentation so richly, that it'd be worth a try to come up with your own version. (And then you could invite me over.)

[Kent Wang]

I'm extremely impressed. That's a lot of driving and eating.

[MissAmy]

This is an awesome thread.

Re: the sausage thing - it's not just central Texas. My mother's family is originally from West Texas, out by Lubbock and Abilene, and they have their own kind of barbeque and their own kind of sausage.

[Jaymes]

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage,

Should have said that the "African-American-owned joints with which I am familiar here in Texas also often feature sausage."

Although I stop for barbecue wherever I travel, and I travel a lot and have eaten barbecue all over the country, I haven't really paid that close attention to whether or not there are hot links elsewhere.

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

[TexNewMex]

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage,

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

It was the Baby back ribs at Schoepf's........

mushy....no way!

Overdone.....not really......

good......Hell yea!

Thank God I wasn't at a BBQ competition....I would have missed out.


The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

A perfect explanation of the ribs that I experienced on the trip! Except the baby backs

[Jaymes]

But the African-American-owned joints also often feature sausage,

And TexNewMex, somewhere you said that the ribs at one of the places was "fall off the bone." You'll learn that in Texas, that's no compliment. All it means is that the ribs were overdone, and had been cooked to mush, which anybody can do.

The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

If you enter your ribs in a barbecue competition, and they "fall off the bone," they'll be disqualified.

It was the Baby back ribs at Schoepf's........

mushy....no way!

Overdone.....not really......

good......Hell yea!

Thank God I wasn't at a BBQ competition....I would have missed out.


The ribs that you had during your trek undoubtedly did not, for the most part anyway, "fall off the bone." Rather, they had a good, meaty texture, offered a little resistance to the tooth, and had to be pulled from the bone.

A perfect explanation of the ribs that I experienced on the trip! Except the baby backs.

Ah....well, then. I obviously must get to Schoepf's the next time I'm down that way.

And I guess you figgered out all by yourself why, when you got to Taylor, you were surprised to see TWO barbecue joints side by side, one of which is world famous, and the other of which you'd never heard.

And have since forgotten.

Edited by Jaymes, 12 August 2006 - 08:37 AM.

[mikelbarnz]

Dug up this post to show a friend, and thought it deserved a bump. Best damn post ever. And best of all, central Texas BBQ is "beagle approved".

Edited by mikelbarnz, 19 July 2009 - 12:47 PM.

[Kent Wang]

Beef rib from Louie Mueller?

[mikelbarnz]

Beef rib from Louie Mueller?

Cooper's :)

[Bill Miller]

Mallet Bros BBQ--Navasota, Hwy 6 Loop-

Everything is good!! Brisket, ribs, pork, slaw, potatos. pototo salad, The whole family will make you happy. Nice building too!! Small sign, so don't miss it-if you do exit and come back--it's worth it!!